Rethinking Malcolm Means First Learning How to Think: What Was Marable Thinking? and How?('Malcolm X: A Life of Reinvention') (Critical Essay)

THE NEW BOOK by Manning Marable, Malcolm X: A Life of Reinvention, will help us get to a deeper understanding of Malcolm X and the times we're living in now. This will not be a direct result of what Marable has done, but rather what needs to be done because of what he has done. We can advance our thinking through deep and thorough criticism of this book. (1) We are facing a challenge to our perspective, our philosophy and our politics for black liberation. We respect Marable and ourselves by taking him seriously and raising our critique to the highest level. Many will oppose and even resent this review, but I write for the brothers and sisters who will dare to struggle, to take the hard core stance we need for victory. First came the book days after Marable's death, and then an avalanche of praise and polemic vaulting Marable into the esteemed ranks of ruling class darling public intellectuals. I collected and sent to the H-AFROAM e-list nearly 100 reviews and commentaries on this Marable book. (2) They range from "magnificent," "magisterial," and "a magnum opus of a life's work based on 20 years of research," to "sloppy," "unprofessional," and "speculative based on logical fallacy." Why such extremely opposite views of this book?